


As You Are

by TheSunshineDragon



Series: Pieces of The Healer's Cottage [5]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Fluff and Humor, Gen, How Do I Tag, Minor Historical Inaccuracy, The Author Regrets Nothing, but - Freeform, in my case anyways, love/hate relationship with tags, now that needs to be a tag, the angst is so mild in this i probably don't even need to tag it, this was so much longer than i thought it was going to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28568712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSunshineDragon/pseuds/TheSunshineDragon
Summary: Being a merchant meant you found plenty of odd and interesting things during your travels. But Hyunjin wasn't expecting to find Jeongin, an albino from nowhere, in the middle of a circus trying to escape from its grasp.Take the summary with a grain of salt. Author is sleep deprived and not thinking coherently.
Series: Pieces of The Healer's Cottage [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917703
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	As You Are

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just going to apologize for the stilted parts of this, the possible inaccuracy of Soobin (that can be chalked up as the characterization of the story;), and whatever other mistakes I made. I wrote this over two days and finished it very late at night (or early in the morning?) because my college started back up again yesterday and I don't know when I'll be able to post something else, especially since I won't be getting a spring break and one of my classes this semester is double-timing it because it's shorter. 
> 
> Anyways, rant to continue in the end notes, so enjoy the show!

Hyunjin hated carnivals and circuses, he really did. Yes, they were exciting and lively and festive, but it just wasn’t his kind of excitement. Give him a sword fight or a successful trade deal, but anything involving an overly rowdy crowd and children hyped up on the sugary treats the special vendors were offering and he was _out_. Which was unusual considering his outgoing personality, but he didn’t dwell on it much.

Case in point being the crowd he and Soobin were currently trying to force their way through, the market square crowded with an overwhelming number of people milling about the sights and attractions some massive visiting circus was offering.

“You could’ve told me this was happening!” Hyunjin shouted to Soobin over the noise, narrowly avoiding being smacked in the face by a juggler’s stilts.

“Trust me, if I had known, I would’ve avoided coming here!” Soobin shouted back, craning his neck to look up at one of the few things taller than him, smirking when the juggler lost one of his juggling balls in the crowd and stumbled on the stilts.

They finally broke through the crowd.

Only to run into the longest line they’d ever seen, starting in an alley and twisting down another, blocking the road. Hyunjin threw his head back and groaned. “Remind me why we came here again?”

“Mysterious expensive cargo for sale, could be good for the business?” Soobin panted in response, bent over at the waist trying to catch his breath.

“But not good for our health,” Hyunjin muttered, adjusting the bandana tied around his head, keeping his hair out of the way. “Alright, let’s go,” he said, dramatically flipping the ends of the scarf over his shoulder, making Soobin huff a laugh as he straightened up. “We have a deal to make.” 

They eventually made it out of the entirety of the ring of excitement the circus had around the main square, arriving at the offices of their meeting just a couple minutes late. The clerk looked them over with a judging eye when they walked in, particularly Hyunjin, who granted did give off an intimidating air when he wanted to, those being one of those times.

“We’re here to see William Shippen,” Hyunjin declared to the clerk, walking towards the counter. “Could you direct us to his office, please?”

The thin man looked over his nose. “I’m sorry, we don’t offer appointments to…ruffians.” He sniffed and shuffled some papers around, further ignoring the young men in front of him.

Hyunjin, having expected this, dug a certificate out from his bag. “Hyunjin Hwang, co-owner and trading partner of Crown Shipping and Trading. My companion and I have an appointment with William Shippen regarding a possible trade agreement. Where is his office?” Hyunjin stated the information very firmly, setting the certificate with a thud onto the desk and sliding it over just enough that the clerk could see it. The clerk sniffed haughtily again and moved his head just enough to view the certificate, before letting out a long-suffering sigh.

“If you _must_ insist in such a manner, Mister Shippen’s office is down that hall, third door on the left.” The clerk’s nose twitched again as he went back to his papers. “Though why he would see people such as you is beyond me,” was muttered under the breath.”

“Thank you,” Soobin said as he and Hyunjin walked through the door, Hyunjin tucking the certificate back into his bag.

“I hate doing that,” Hyunjin said, rolling his eyes. “Just because we look like a couple of pirates doesn’t mean we actually are.”

“Technically, he never said pirates,” Soobin said. “It was ruffians.”

“The difference being what, less murder and blood?” Hyunjin knocked on the office door, smoothing a wrinkle in his shirt as they waited for a response.

Soobin shrugged. “Beats me, I wore my best shirt today. At least he let us in.”

“Yeah, I really didn’t want to break into an office through a window today,” Hyunjin said, right as the door opened, revealing a well-dressed, plump man. “Mister Shippen?”

“Yes, you must be Hyunjin Hwang,” William Shippen responsed, smiling. “And you are…?” he gestured at Soobin.

“Soobin Choi, treasurer and banker for Crown Shipping and Trading,” Soobin said. “I’m accompanying Hyunjin today to make sure he doesn’t make any rash decisions with our finances.”

Hyunjin gave Soobin the stink eye as Shippen lead them into his office. “Well, it’s nice to hear young people being responsible in the trade,” Shippen said, sitting down in a leather chair behind a desk. “Here, have a seat. How was your trip?”

“It was fine,” Hyunjin said, sitting down on the edge of his seat. “With all due respect, we’re on a bit of a deadline for another meeting with another merchant in the next village over tomorrow morning, so if we could get straight to business, please?”

Shippen laughed. “I like your enthusiasm, young man. Alright, let’s get to business then.”

Hyunjin gave the man a thin smile. “Yes, let’s.”

After much discussion, Soobin and Hyunjin determined that the “mysterious cargo” wouldn’t be as profitable as they originally thought it might be. They already had an overabundance of the stuff and definitely didn’t need more.

“That was not only a waste of time, but the last time I go investigate a bit of “mysterious” cargo,” Hyunjin said, making air quotes as they walked out of the offices, disappointed with the findings.

“Agreed,” Soobin said, following Hyunjin as they made their way back towards the center of town. “Why are we going this way again?”

“Because we need to make it back to our room fast and this is going to be the fastest way, believe it or not” Hyunjin declared.

Soobin groaned. “But the crowds, ugh, we can’t just go around?”

Hyunjin shook his head. “It’ll take too long.”

“I hate your need for speed sometimes, you know? Okay, what is with this line?”

They were back again where they had managed to get out of the crowd, but the line that was there before hadn’t seemed to dissipate.

Hyunjin shrugged as they approached it. “I don’t know, ask,” he said, not really serious.

Soobin crinkled his nose, but tapped the shoulder of the man nearest to them. “Excuse me, what’s the line for?”

The man turned around, holding a small child in his arms. “Oh, it’s to see the albino.”

Hyunjin stopped mid-step and turned his attention towards the man. “The what now?”

“The albino. It’s one of the bigger attractions this circus has,” the man said, inclining his head towards the line to make his point.

“Another reason for why I _really_ hate circuses,” Hyunjin muttered, turning around. “Come on, Soobin, let’s go.”

Shouting erupted behind Hyunjin and Soobin as they broke through to the other side of the line. Turning around, they saw a boy in all black running as fast as he could in their direction, two burly men behind him. He squirmed his way between the people in the line and as he looked back at his pursers, ran straight into Hyunjin, causing them to both fall over. The boy sprung up and made to run again, but Soobin grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Let me go, please!” The boy squirmed in Soobin’s grasp, but to no avail. “Please! I don’t want to go back!”

“What’s going on?” Hyunjin dragged himself up from the ground right as the two men arrived, panting from the running. The boy, who couldn’t be much younger than Soobin and Hyunjin, instantly cowered behind Soobin’s tall frame.

Once he was completely standing, Hyunjin noticed two things. First, both men were armed and second, the boy had very long, very white hair and very pale skin.

_White hair, pale skin._

It clicked.

_The circus albino._

“Give the kid back,” one of the men said. Hyunjin took one look at the quivering boy and decided no.

“I think not,” he responded, loosening his sword in its sheath as he stepped slightly in front of Soobin. “Mind telling me his crime?”

“That’s none of your business. Look, you seem like a reasonable lad, just the give the boy back and there won’t be any trouble.”

Hyunjin turned around to look at the kid. “Do you want to go back with these fellows?”

The kid vehemently shook his head no. Hyunjin nodded and turned around to face the men again. “He doesn’t seem to want to, so no.”

“What is going on here?” A tall, thin man broke through the crowd that had gathered to watch the exchange. He was dressed completely in off-white, from his long coat to boots. A small, thin black whip was swinging from his hip and he held the leash of a greyhound, who sat down as soon as they stopped walking.

“Ringmaster, sir, they have the albino and won’t give him back,” the smaller of the first two men practically whined, pointing at Hyunjin and Soobin.

The man swiveled his head to look at the duo, instantly making Hyunjin think of a hawk. “I see you’re in possession of one of my main attractions, young man.”

“People aren’t trophies to be displayed,” Soobin snarked in response, straightening to his full height. “He’s not going back with you.”

“You’re robbing these people of a show and me of my money,” the ringmaster said, spreading his hands out to indicate the crowd. “I can’t just let you have him.”

“A bargain, then.” Soobin and the boy’s heads swiveled towards Hyunjin at his words, the boy looking shocked.

The ringmaster narrowed his eyes. “What kind of bargain?”

Hyunjin reached into a small pouch hidden in the pocket of his trousers and pulled out two gold coins, some in the crowd gasping at the sight. “You get the gold, we keep the boy.”

Greed lit up in the eyes of the ringmaster, quickly covered by calculation. “Ten gold pieces.”

“Seven, final offer.”

The ringmaster hesitated.

“Going once, going twice…”

“Fine, fine, seven gold coins,” the ringmaster said hurriedly, reaching his ringed fingers out. “The boy is yours.”

Hyunjin quickly fished the coins out and deposited them into the man’s hand, then went and helped Soobin and the boy get out of the crowd and down the road, not even bothering to look behind him. A few of the crowd, mostly small children, tried to follow them through the streets, but a stern look from Soobin and a harsh word from Hyunjin sent them running. They quickly went through the lobby of the inn and up the stairs and worked on getting the boy settled.

“Do you want a bath or food first?” Hyunjin asked, digging around in his other bag for clothes for the boy. “Also, I’m Hyunjin, this is Soobin.”

“Jeongin,” the boy said softly, standing timidly in the center of the room. “And I don’t know?” Both sounded really good and much better than anything he’d had in years, but he wasn’t sure which he wanted first.

Soobin eyed the boy with a critical eye. Though his long white hair looked clean, the rest of him did not, his face and hands were covered in dirt and grime.

“I think a bath first, yeah?” Soobin said gently. “Do you have any injuries?”

Jeongin shook his head no. 

“Okay, then let’s get you cleaned up.”

An hour or so later, the three sat in the room, Jeongin on one the beds, Soobin in the armchair, and Hyunjin on the floor propped up against the wall. Soobin and Hyunjin were quietly discussing some trading business or other, while Jeongin just watched, trying to not be a bother.

Jeongin _really_ didn’t want this to be a dream. He hadn’t pinched himself yet, but here he was, out of the horribly itchy black clothing, clean, and fed. He honestly just wanted to curl up in the bed and sleep for a week. Hyunjin, the one with long hair, had _purchased_ his _freedom_ from the ringmaster. His years of being a circus attraction were over.

Or so he hoped.

“Jeongin, what do you think?”

Jeongin snapped out of his thoughts with a visible jerk, making Hyunjin pull a face at the reaction.

“Y-yes?” Jeongin said hesitantly, not having heard the conversation prior to the question.

Soobin looked mildly amused. “You didn’t hear what we were talking about, did you?”

Jeongin shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’ll pay better attention.”

“It happens to all of us, especially him,” Soobin said, jabbing his thumb at Hyunjin, who scoffed.

“It does not!”

Soobin flapped his hand. “Beside the point. Jeongin, we were wondering what you wanted to do from now. Do you have family or a hometown you can go back to? If not, you’re more than welcome to travel with us the rest of our trip and then stay with one of us for as long as you like, or go on your own.”

“I have no family left,” Jeongin said bluntly, bringing his knees up and tucking them under his chin. “They were killed in a raid when I was little. No one wanted me, so I ended up in an orphanage, and then the circus because I’m an albino and the old women that ran the orphanage thought I was cursed or something equally devilish. I’m either not wanted or treated as a rare object. I don’t know where I would go on my own, either. I haven’t been outside of the circus since I got there, and I was there for _years_.”

Soobin and Hyunjin both winced. “Right, so that’s not an option, then,” Hyunjin said. “Do you want to travel with us, then? It won’t be a problem.”

“I don’t want to be a burden,” Jeongin said, softer than his previous statement.

“You won’t be,” Soobin said with an encouraging smile. “If you ever want to just stay in a village you like or just stick with us indefinitely, it’s fine. We’ll make it work.”

And make it work they did. For the last three weeks, the trio had been travelling across England, Soobin and Hyunjin working their trade, while Jeongin trailed along. Jeongin was quiet and timid, occasionally showing some spiritedness if he felt particular on certain subjects. Gradually, though, he opened up, though the connection was stronger with Hyunjin than Soobin. When Soobin and Hyunjin parted ways in late fall, Jeongin decided to stay with Hyunjin, and they travelled to the outskirts of London, where Hyunjin owned a small house.

Jeongin opened up pretty quickly after that, much to Hyunjin’s delight. While Hyunjin worked on business during the day, Jeongin worked his way through the small library that was available, improving his lacking reading skills. He eventually took a shot at writing, though with little progress.

“If you don’t want to write, then don’t,” Hyunjin said when Jeongin expressed his frustration. “If it makes you feel any better, just you being able to read and sign your own signature is good enough for me.

It did, in fact, make Jeongin feel better, and after a few more failed attempts at improving his writing he dropped it entirely and focused on reading.

Winter finally set it and the two young men holed up in the house on most days, venturing outside only if they needed something. Hyunjin took the opportunity to show off his cooking skills, Jeongin waking up most mornings to something wonderful cooking away in the kitchen. One special occasion had been when Hyunjin had fried bits of dough into a tasty treat.

Jeongin woke up to the smell of something wonderful floating in the air. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and lied in the bed for several minutes before rolling himself out of it, toes cringing at the cold floor. Grabbing the blanket from the top of the bed, he wrapped it around himself, absently noting that it was snowing outside. He quietly made his way down the stairs and peeked around the corner of the kitchen door to see Hyunjin in front of a weird contraption sitting on the table, a wide pan sitting on top of it. He could see puffed golden bubbles floating and bobbing in what he was assumed was melted fat. The smell was absolutely heavenly.

When Hyunjin turned around to grab something off of the counter behind him, Jeongin snuck in and sat himself down at the table in the corner to observe. He was felt like trolling Hyunjin a bit this morning, so he didn’t announce his presence. It was something he did rather frequently and Hyunjin was slowly getting used to the albino suddenly just popping up wherever, whenever, but it still made him jump and possibly scream most of the time.

Case in point being when Hyunjin turned around and let out a very undignified shriek once he realized Jeongin was watching him cook.

“You have _got_ to stop doing that,” Hyunjin huffed, once he got his heart rate under control, scooping the golden bubbles out of the pan with another weird utensil (this one had a small wire basket secured to the end of a small wooden rod).

“I thought merchants were always aware,” Jeongin snarked back without thinking, sinking further into the dining chair, trying to get comfortable. Ah, the comfort of being able to be sassy with your elders.

Hyunjin snorted at the reply. “I shouldn’t have to be on guard in my own house, thank you very much.”

The banter went back and forth for a bit before dying out, the kitchen growing quiet as Hyunjin kept on cooking the golden bubbles, the fat hissing and popping as the dough was dropped in, taken out, and repeated.

“What are those?” Jeongin finally asked.

“I can’t say the actual name, but it’s fried dough,” Hyunjin said with a small laugh. “Picked the recipe up on a trip in the Netherlands. Here, try one.” He held out one of the cooled bubbles, waiting patiently for Jeongin to take it. Jeongin carefully took it, watching Hyunjin’s every move, popping it quickly into his mouth once he had secured it.

He frowned as he chewed. “It’s…bland? Slightly sweet, but bland,” he offered hesitantly, not wanting to offend Hyunjin.

Hyunjin nodded. “I figured as much. Me and Soobin like them plain or rolled in cinnamon and sugar or preserves if they’re handy. I’ll toss this last batch with cinnamon and sugar,” he said, sliding the last pieces of dough into the hot oil. Turning around, he pulled out sugar and cinnamon from a cabinet and tossed some of both into a copper pan, swirling it around to mix them. After the dough pieces were cooked through, he drained the grease off of them and tossed them in the cinnamon sugar mixture and set the entire pan in front of Jeongin.

“Here, try them while I fry eggs.” Hyunjin turned around and focused on getting the rest of the breakfast together while Jeongin carefully extracted a coated bubble from the pan and popped it into his mouth. Before he knew it, half the pan was gone.

“Those are really good,” he said around a mouthful of one.

Hyunjin grinned. “Good.”

A trencher of scrambled eggs was placed in front of him and Jeongin wolfed those down, too, before Hyunjin even had a chance to sit down with his own. Jeongin still always ate as fast as he could, though he did it with a lot less anxiety and nervousness than before, so Hyunjin was content to let him be.

They sat in silence for awhile, snacking on the remains of the fried dough. Snow continued to fall heavily in large flakes outside the window. The fireplace crackled and popped every once in awhile, keeping the cold out and the heat steady.

“Have you thought about cutting your hair?” Hyunjin suddenly popped the random question, having been eyeing Jeongin’s hair for the last minute or so.

Jeongin started at the sudden question, then settled, frowning as he considered the question. It had been several months since Hyunjin and Soobin had rescued him and his hair had steadily creeped to a length that was well below his shoulder blades and it was hanging in his eyes a lot, even though he wasn’t doing much.

“No?” He finally responded. “It’s irritating, but I haven’t given it much thought.”

“Well, if you ever want to, just let me know and we’ll get it taken care of, okay?” Hyunjin said, sipping his coffee.

Jeongin nodded. “Okay.”

The cold winter eventually turned into a much warmer spring, the melting snow bringing about opportunities and the need to make important decisions. Hyunjin was in the garden, trying to determine what he wanted to do with it, when Jeongin emerged from the house for the first time since he’d been there, blinking warily at the sunshine that radiated from the edge of the porch. Hyunjin grinned as a cautious hand was stuck out into the sun, then an arm, and eventually Jeongin was sitting on the top of the steps of the porch, still wrapped in a blanket, white head shining in the sunlight.

“Welcome to the outdoors!” Hyunjin said cheerily, making his way over to the younger, bare feet squishing in the moist ground. Jeongin grunted, still blinking at the brightness, scooting over a tad so that Hyunjin could sit down.

“What are you doing?” Jeongin asked, observing the ruins of the garden.

“I’m trying to decide if it’s worth putting effort into the garden this year,” Hyunjin said, resting his chin in his hand as he too looked at the garden. “Half of the stuff didn’t even grow last year and I wasn’t home enough to properly take care of what did grow.”

“You could give it break this year,” Jeongin suggested.

Hyunjin gave a noncommittal hum, flopping backwards onto the porch. “I could. That would give me time to really clean it up and reset it for next year. It’s a good idea.”

“Yup.”

They were quiet for a bit, basking in the warm spring sun.

“I was thinking about moving,” Hyunjin said hesitantly, watching Jeongin to gauge his reaction. “I’ve been thinking about taking a break from trading and travelling for a few months, maybe see if there was somewhere else we might want to live. I have plenty of money saved up and if I had to I could pick up odd jobs if we were in need of funds.”

Jeongin tilted his head in thought. “I like that idea,” he said quietly. “I haven’t seen much the countryside…or the ocean.”

Hyunjin stood and dusted his pants off. “Shall I set things into motion, then?”

Jeongin nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

"Alright, world, here we come!" Hyunjin said with a cheer, jumping off of the porch and into the muddy garden. He stumbled on the uneven ground, making Jeongin laugh. 

Into the world, indeed. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, your random historical fact of the day is that donuts were, in fact, not invented slash officialized until the early 1800's, but I'm pretty sure there had to be some kind of variation of it way before that, so essentially Hyunjin was making donut holes. And yes, homemade ones are not all uniform, so it's plausible :P Also, that was the very first scene to go into this fic, and it was a whopping 650 at the beginning. I don't know what it is now, but it made a major contribution to the start of this fic. 
> 
> I wholly blame Jeongin's current hair color for this characterization of him (and that one historical novel I read many, many years ago that had an albino boy in it). That white hair is just awesome and I think I like it better than the blue hair he had for Back Door, but I'm not sure, I like both a lot XD
> 
> Also the whole entire pirate thing may or may not be a low-key shoutout to maelstromdeparture and her awesome SKZ pirate au (you updated yesterday and it was on my mind all day because I'm /still/ mulling over that plot of yours, sorry XD) and the set up for a running joke in this series, hehehe. 
> 
> I apologize for Soobin suddenly appearing in this series. I don't know why, but his name got stuck in my head and I did some research and decided to through him in here. I'm not even a MOA (that's the fanbase name, right?), but I have been introduced to a bit of TXT's music and I could've sworn there was a collab stage, but I couldn't find anything on youtube, so idk how my brain connected Soobin and Hyunjin as being friends XD Also the whole treasurer thing is kind of a joke. From my understanding Soobin hates math and I do too (and I'm horrible at anything above the basics), however, your resident business major has discovered that basic math and most financial math makes a ton of sense, so idk, seemed funny to have that be a thing. 
> 
> I would also go on a historical fact thing about gold coins, but again, sleep deprived and my brain is slowly turning to mush as I write these notes...Basically, medieval games are wrong, gold coins have a debated historical value of being pricey, so that's why Hyunjin would be considered very rich because he has them...I'll explain later...
> 
> But yeah, I started college again this week and I am not excited because my winter break was so short (1 1/2 weeks, my dudes). I don't know when I'll be able to post again, hopefully shooting for the end of the month, but no promises :) 
> 
> Also also this isn't edited, sorry. I'm in the alternate dimension that is sleep deprivation and was trying to post this quickly XD
> 
> Have a fabulous day!


End file.
